Day 686: 1 Chronicles 20- Grace Fueled Victory

In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, Joab led out the army and ravaged the country of the Ammonites and came and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. And Joab struck down Rabbah and overthrew it. 2 And David took the crown of their king from his head. He found that it weighed a talent of gold, and in it was a precious stone. And it was placed on David's head. And he brought out the spoil of the city, a very great amount. 3 And he brought out the people who were in it and set them to labor with saws and iron picks and axes. And thus David did to all the cities of the Ammonites. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.
Philistine Giants Killed4 And after this there arose war with the Philistines at Gezer. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Sippai, who was one of the descendants of the giants, and the Philistines were subdued. 5 And there was again war with the Philistines, and Elhanan the son of Jair struck down Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam. 6 And there was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number, and he also was descended from the giants. 7 And when he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea, David's brother, struck him down. 8 These were descended from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.
 
Meditation
Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith who with joy went to the cross so Christians can joyfully move forward in victory (Hebrews 12:1-2). We don’t deserve victory over sin and death but He has done it for us.
 
David’s most notorious sin was his abuse of power with Bathsheba that resulted in horrific sinful actions. In the pre-exilic history of 2 Samuel the tragic narrative is introduced the exact same way our chapter begins, “In the Spring of that year, the time when kings go out to battle…” (1) The sin is not recapped but it still happened and David was deeply repentant over it (Psalm 51).

What is highlighted in this chapter is God’s grace abounding more than our sin (Romans 5:20). The Chronicler recounts the stories of victory, the total control David and his military accomplished. Crowns were taken (2), cities overthrown (3), and giants overrun (4-7). God continues to give David victory because God is gracious and merciful beyond what we can fathom. God’s grace continues to give and give. This truth must feed our faith and form our focus.

The good news is true, the gospel frees us to walk forward in victory. Our God has crushed the head of the enemy and His grace is the ground on which we advance (Romans 16:20).

Richly Dwelling
-What stands out to you about the absence of alluding to but not mentioning David’s sin with Bathsheba?

-Why is it difficult to embrace the total forgiveness of God through the finished work of Christ, to fix our eyes on Jesus, and to move forward in faith?

-Where do you need to live in victory rather than shame of sin? Where do you need to defeat the lies of the enemy with the truth of the gospel? Jesus is a king with total control- Live like it!

Key Verse
1 In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle…